The Chinese New Year holiday is traditionally a time of gift-giving and celebration in the Middle Kingdom. This year, no one celebrates more than China’s President Xi Jinping. On Monday, Xi’s US counterpart signed an order withdrawing American support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The move fulfilled one of President Donald Trump’s central campaign pledges. Since the 12-nation free-trade pact …

  With all the attention being devoted to the policy intentions and actions of President Donald Trump, there has been a lot less focus on this week’s four meetings at systemically important central banks — the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (though that meeting doesn’t involve monetary policy). Here are …

  Consider the tragedy of a child killed by neglect and abuse. Now consider the tragedy of a child taken from parents who would not have criminally abused her. Which is worse? Computer algorithms might soon help humans make such difficult decisions — but only if we recognize the myriad ways in which they can go wrong. In countless cities …